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Intel Montevina chip is branded Centrino 2

Branding to break down into Centrino 2 for consumer notebooks and Centrino 2 vPro for business portables. Chipmaker also announces a quad-core chip.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
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Though rumors have been out there for weeks, Intel has confirmed that upcoming Montevina mobile technology will be branded Centrino 2. The chipmaker also said the Core 2 Extreme QX9770 is shipping.

Intel Centrino 2 brand Intel

This follows the official rollout of the Atom brand for ultrasmall devices on Sunday. As part of the Atom platform, Intel will offer a combination CPU-chipset wireless solution called Centrino Atom, with device suppliers shipping products next quarter.

Now Intel has added the Centrino 2 brand to the mix. The branding will break down into Centrino 2 for consumer notebooks and Centrino 2 vPro for business portables.

"It will feature unprecedented processor performance for faster multitasking, high-bandwidth Wi-Fi (802.11agn), and for the first time, an optional integrated WiMax-Wi-Fi module. Centrino 2 also has a power-saving design to provide the longest possible battery life," Intel said in a statement.

The 45-nanometer Penryn-class processors will span the full range of notebook designs, from "mini notes to full-size (notebooks)," according to past statements from Intel. Processors will have clock speeds ranging up to 2.8GHz and thermal envelopes (referred to as Thermal Design Power, or TDP) of between 25 watts and 35 watts. The platform also features integrated Blu-ray Disc support, as well as integrated Wi-Fi and WiMax wireless technologies.

Some of the processors will come with the same compact chip packaging used in the MacBook Air's Core 2 Duo processor. These low-power processors will have TDPs as low as 5W.

Centrino 2 will also have improved graphics in the form of GMA X4500 silicon that will be part of the GM45 ("Cantiga") chipset. Performance is expected to be up to three times greater than current X3100 graphics (GM965 chipset).

Intel also announced that it has begun shipping its Core 2 Extreme quad-core QX9770 and X48 Express chipset. The high-end 3.2GHz QX9770 processor integrates 12MB of L2 cache and uses a 1600MHz front-side bus.

"We are in production. The QX9770 will launch later this month," an Intel spokesperson said Wednesday.